Recoiling-barrel gun.



'1. G. JOHNSON.

EEGOILING BARREIJ GUN.

APPLICATION FILED FEB; 4, 1909.

v 946,134, r Patented Jan.l1,1 910.

block with a han UNITED STATES ra rnncr ourron;

THOMAS C. JOHNSON, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS C0,, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, -A CORPORATION.

RECOILING-BARREL GUN.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Jan. 11, 1910.

Application filed February 4, 1909. Serial No. 476,063.

To all whom 'it may concern:

'Be it known that I, THOMAS C. JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Haven, in the county of New-Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Recoiling- Barrel Guns; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the numerals of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in-

Figure 1 a broken view partly in side r elevation and partly in section of one form which a recoiling-barrelgun constructed in accordance with my invention may assume.

Fig. 2 a View in side elevation of the,

barrel showing its provision with a barrelgrip. Fig.3 a View of the barrel in crosssection on the line a'b of Fig. 2, drawn on. an enlarged scale. Fig. 4 a broken View showing one of the modified forms which the barrel-grip may assume.

My invention relates to an impr avement in that class of guns known to the'trade as rccoiling-barrel guns. Guns of this class are provided with a barrel-extension rigid with the rear end of the barrel, and with a breech-block. \Vhen the barrel recoils as the result of the explosion of a cartridge in its chamber, the barrel, barrel-extension and breech-block recoil together and When they reach the limit of their rearwardmovement the breech-block is caught in the usual manner and detained in that position, but.

the barrel is returned to the limit of its in these positions another cartridge is fedv into position to be loaded into the barrel by the forward movement of the breechblock which is released automatically just before the barrel-reaches the limit of its forward movement. A fresh cartridge is thus loaded into the barrel from the magazine as the result of the firing of the preceding-cartridge. In order, however, to load the first cartridge into the barrel, some provision must be made for manually moving the breech-block rearward to the limit of its rearward movement. Heretofore this has been done by the rovision of the breechfrom the gun.

1e projecting laterally The object of my present invention is to dispense with the arse of any such handle and to provide for manually opening the gun for the introduction of the first'cartridge by the use of the barrel itself.

\Vith these ends in View my invention consists in a recoiling-barrel gun having its barrel provided at a point in front of the forestock with a concentric grip by means 'of which it may be manually operated for opening the gun.

My invention further consists in a gun having certain details of construction and combinations of parts as will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claim.

In carrying out my invention as herein shown, Iform upon the forward end of the recoiling-barrel 2 a series of integral con- -centric rings or ribs 8 collectively constituting a barrel-grip,.whereby the barrel may be readily grasped by the hand and manually drawn back to the limit of its rearward excursion against the tension of the barrel- .closing spring 4 and the bolt-sprin which is not. shown. By theprovision of fhe barrel itself with a barrel-grip, the barrel may be grasped with the bare hand or with a gloycd hand and given a quickrearumrd pull without the slipping of the hand upon the barrel.

Indeed unless the barrel is provided with a specially designed grip for this purpose, 1t1s impractical to rely upon the barrel for manually opening the gun against the tension of v the barrel-closing sprin and the boltspring. When the barrel is retracted as de scribed, it will be understood that it pushes the breech-block 5 to the limit of its rear-.

incloses the magazine 7 the rear end of which is rigidly mounted in the forward end of the frame onreceiver 8 in the usual manner. The said magazine is provided at its forward end, as shown, with a flanged cap 9 the flange of which bears against the extreme forward end of the forestock 6 and holds the rear end thereof in place in its groove (not shown) in the front end of the frame or receiver 8. The barrel 2, as shown, is formed with a depending sleeve 10 which is telescoped over the barrel-closing spring4= breech-block within the frame or receiver 8.

As shown in Fig. 3, the barrel-grip is formed upon the top of the barrel with a sightgroove 14 so as to leave-a clear line of sight along the barrel to the sight 15 at the muzzle end thereof.

The particular adaptation of the barrel to be gripped by the bare or the gloved hand, may take a variety of forms, and I anrnot limited, as must be obvious, in the formation ofa barrel-grip for the barrel, to the use of a series of concentric ribs 3 as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Thus the barrel might be provided near its forward end with an egg-shaped rip 1 6 as shown in Fig. 4. This may be made independently of the barrel and applied thereto, if desired, or it might be made in- .tegral with the barrel, and the same may be said of theribs 3. But in any event and in any form that the barrel-grip may assume, it will be rigid with the barrel and have no movement independent thereof.

washer 11 for the' a I claim said magazine and exerting a constant effort to hold the barrel at the limit 'of its forward movement, anda forestock abutted at its barrel, a barrel-closing spring encircling the rear end against the front face of the frame and extending forward under the barrel and inclosing the said spring,.the said concentric barrel-grip bein located upon thebarrel between the muzz e end thereof and the-forward end of the said forestock and providing for the direct manual movement of the barrel against thetension of the said barrelclosing spring for opening the gun without firing 1t. p

In testimony whereof, I have signed this speclficatlon 1n the presence of two subscribing witnesses. THOMAS C. JOHNSON.

,Witnesses:

GEORGE DUDLEY SEYMOUR,

CLARA L.- VVEED.

' 30 In a recoiling-barrel shot-gun, the combi- 

